Satire works best when its roots lie firmly in reality. Best
In Show is hilarious because it is easy to imagine people acting
so inanely. Take satire too far and it becomes meaningless. The first
half of Bamboozled is brilliant satire. But somewhere along the
way, writer/director Spike Lee (Summer
of Sam, He Got Game) loses his way and turns the movie into a
farce. As a director, Lee has his fingers firmly on the pulse of racism
in America. Lately, his efforts are straying from one unifying theme,
which does not seem to be a problem here. The problem here is that a good
idea run amoks, rendering his social message nearly moot. Still, there
are strong moments in Bamboozled that are certainly worthy of attention.

Bamboozled revolves around the victimization of African-Americans
in popular culture. Television shows portray them as criminals, drug addicts,
prostitutes, lazy, and usually lower class. Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans,
Goosed, Bulletproof) is working to change this. As an executive
at a national network, he tries to create shows that appeal to the middle
class blacks, a group he feels is out there. Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport,
The 6th Day, Small
Time Crooks) is his boss, and is 'blacker' than Delacroix. Delacroix
is as whitebread as they come. He speaks with a pretentious accent, and
aside from his skin color, is basically white. Dunwitty throws the 'n'
word around as if he was African-American. He tells Delacroix to create
a new Afro-centric show for him, and Delacroix, disgusted with the whole
affair, decides to create a show so horrible and offensive that nobody
will want it to air.

The New Millennium Minstrel Show is the result of his efforts.
He takes every single stereotype about African Americans and combines
them into one variety show. The stars dance, sing and live in a watermelon
patch. The band is a bunch of ex-convicts. The big lips are there, and
there is an Aunt Jemima character. Even worse, the African-American actors
appear in blackface. Here, Lee is brilliant. With the quality of some
of the shows appearing on national television, it is not hard to imagine
The New Millennium Minstrel Show popping up on the fall schedule.
Lee falters when he continues. Instead of getting the axe, Delacroix's
show becomes a huge hit. Executives immediately green light it, and eventually
fans show up to the show in blackface. Huh? Maybe once blackface was acceptable,
but that day is long gone. Lee does show some protests, but the fact that
people love the show is baffling. If anybody were to appear in blackface
in today's society, they would incur the wrath of everybody (example:
Ted Danson a couple years ago). Unfortunately, Lee spends a good amount
of time showing the rise in popularity of The New Millenium Minstrel
Show, and this ends up taking away a lot of the power from the initial
scenes.

There are still many good performances here. It is nice to watch Wayans
and fellow In Living Color alum Tommy Davidson (CB4, Strictly
Business) actually act. They usually confine themselves to roles where
they mug and act like idiots. The script here requires seriousness and
depth, and both of them succeed. Davidson in particular, since he usually
does nothing but clown around. Tap sensation Savion Glover (choreographer
of Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk) is also impressive. Glover
and Davidson are Sleep N' Eat and Mantan, Delacroix's two stars; dancing
idiotic buffoons. Jada Pinkett Smith (Princess
Mononoke, Set It Off) also does a good job as Sloan Hopkins, Delacroix's
assistant, who initially goes along with his ploy but quickly becomes
extremely offended. Lee manages to rein in his storyline once his characters'
begin to listen to their consciences, but he quickly lets it spiral out
of control again. The most powerful elements arrive at the end. As the
credits roll, Lee displays shot after shot of demeaning 'toys' from times
past. He also has a montage of scenes of from the golden years of cinema
that shows some big time actors (including Mickey Rooney-the same guy
who put on 'yellowface' in Breakfast at Tiffany's-man, does he
want to offend everyone?) in and around blackface. These two montages
speak volumes more than the rest of Bamboozled, and arecertainly
worth the effort it takes to get there.